Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-25
SORGHUM SUGAR.
4 Product that Appeals to the Self
Interest Of the Farmer and
Manufacturer Alike.
The Demonstration of the Value that Can
Be Obtained from an Acre of
Sorghum.
New York Shipping List.

| L hC pOCS1OI4ItY W pIOOuCIuS q MCL
chantable quality of crystalized sugar
from sorghum has been admitted eyel
since the cultivation of the plant attained
any Importance in this country, but up tc
within the past six months all efforts tC
obtain practical results in this direction
have proved failures. Yet the cultivation
OF sorghum has gone on increasing, fol-
it has been found to give q profitable
yield of syrup, and, furthermore, has
provided an excellent fodder for live
stock. The fact that it is easily cultivated
andreaches maturity before frost in all sec.
lions of the country below the 39th parallel
of latitude, has recommended it to the
attention OF agriculturists, while it's rich
saccharine properties have made chemists
persistent in their efforts to conquer this
refractory" juice, because it promised
such profit results. As sorghum
syrup was obtained, by crushing the cane
in ordinary cane mills, eXperimentalists
have carried on their researches for sor-
gnum sugar by similar method of ex-
tracing the juice, but by this process
! crystallZed sugar YVES not obtained in sui
| fiCient quantities to make the expert
ments of practical value, and al
though year after year Congress has
appropriated, and the government has ex-
pended a considerable sum for carryin @
on these same experiments, the believers
in sorghum sugar as o practical reslity
have not increased in number. The sor-
ghum specialist has been looked upon as
kind OF crank, who, while scientifically
correct In theory, was unable to produce
results sufficiently encouraging to get
capitalists to invest in the venture.
During the past three months however the
whole question OF sorghum sugar has as
sumed an entirely different aspect on &C.
count of the success that has attended 8
series Of experiments conducted upon en-
entirely different basis from any hitherto
attempted. By adopting what is known
as the cd fusion process" for extracting
the sRccharine property Of the sorghum
cane, instead of Crusting it between roll
ers IS heretofore, it has been possible to
produce 1856 pounds of crystaIized sugar
and fifteen gallons Of mOlssses from ton
of sorghum cane, result that is not only
entirely satisfactory, out opens the way
tor practical solution OF the sorghum
question. The success of the expert
ment may be more easily appreciated by
comparing it with the yield Of last year
Of the Louisiana cane crop. Accord
ing to NJ. Bouchereau Of New Or
leans, planters using modern ma
chinery obtained 2098 pounds sugar
per acre OF cane, o. 1l6 pounds per ton of
cane, while by other machinery the yield
was only 1885 pounds per acre. The
method Of treating cane by the process of
"diffusion," that is, by cutting it into
slices or chips, which are soaked in hot
water, is no new discovery. It has been
in practical operation for number of
years, and is the recognized method Of
treating bee 8 in Europe, thereby receiV-
ing closer scientific investigation than
any process of sugar-makiDg, and
by its use 80 per cent. of the
sacharine property of the cane has
been extracted. Its superiority can
be readily understood in comparison
with the result of the cane mills, which,
under the most favorable circumstances,
have yielded IS per cent, but more often
er 50@60 per cent. and not infrequently
no more than 35@40 per cent. has been
obtained. These successful experiments
were conducted last September ct Fort
Scott, in Kansas, but, while they afford a
practical solution of the question of pro-
ducing sorghum sugar, it must not be
supposed that successful industry will
be established at once, for, valuable as
the success Of this test is likely to prove,
it will be difficult to induce capital
to embark in the enterprise until
further progress has been made in utiliz-
ing the results of the experiment EXpe
rience has shown that one acre of good
soil will grow from ten to twelve tons of
sorghum, which on the basis of the above
will mean 1850 to 1920 pounds
of sugar, and $50 to $50 gallons
of molasses to the acre, besides the seed
which it is claimed is valuable fodder for
live stock, and yields twenty five bushels
to the acre. These figures demonstrate
what value can be obtained from an acre,
but it remains to be seen how far these
results are borne out in practical opera
ton, ana this fact will have to be sscer-
tanned by experiment. Such an expert
ment will be made, however, during the
next twelve months, company having
been formed with sufficient capital to
carry the question beyond the bounds OF
experiment, and the result will be awaited
with no small interest, for it promises TO
be the turning point in establishing a
most important agricultural as well as
having been made il will take a number
of years to bring the sorghum sugar in
dustry to point where it i
will be in any sense an important
with either cane or beet
sugar. Farmers will have to discover the
of its cultivation, and be
in the best and most econom-
ical method OF culture, corps of expert |
sugar makers will have to be trained, fac
tories erected, machinery improved and
adapted to obtaining the best results,
and, in fact, the whole process of build
ing up new industry will have to be car |
ried forward in progressive steps, before |
the successful experiment at Fort Scott
becomes practical reality in the indus
trial history of the country.
A Remarkable People.
Chicago Inter-Ocean.
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